''I was just in India a few weeks ago and was very impressed with the expertise of the Indian (pharmaceutical) industry and its promise for the future,'' US Under Secretary of State Alan Larson told a global health forum in Washington on Thursday.
Saying that he had spoken to ''a dynamic group of leaders of the nascent Indian R&D pharmaceutical sector,'' Larson said they believed rightly in his view that greater intellectual property protection would safeguard their inventions, encourage investment and job creation and would attract financing for research to address tropical diseases affecting India, like malaria and dengue fever.
He said one doctor had pointed out that multinational pharmaceutical companies could reduce their overall research costs by conducting clinical trials in India, where the infrastructure for such tests already exists, costs are low and skilled labour abundant.
''I offered a message of support and a call for greater action in lobbying the Indian government for increased IPR protection to energize development,'' Larson said.
He said that improving global health, particularly in the face of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, would require governments to work in full partnership with private sector firms that often hold the keys to new medical research and innovative therapies.
Government initiatives alone are insufficient to fight global disease, he said. ''We also need to work cooperatively with the private sector in this important endeavour,'' he told the forum, which was sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Biotechnology Industry Organisation.
Larson noted that the ''vast majority'' of pharmaceutical and medical research and development capabilities are in private sector hands and said the US government is anxious to create incentives to help the private sector become a full partner in the development of new vaccines and treatments for neglected diseases in the developing world.
Those incentives included promoting effective protection of intellectual property rights and building trust between the public and private sectors, he said.
Larson said that even as the US encouraged sound development policies in places like India, it also needs to offer a helping hand.
''The week after my visit, Bill Gates visited India. Bill also had a message, one about the immediate assistance the Gates Foundation would provide, and his message had several zeroes behind it.''
The Gates Foundation, he said, had committed $100 million to the India AIDS Initiative to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and combat societal stigma. ''We thank the Foundation for this initiative,'' he said.
Source: UNI
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